FROM

ROM our former observations it is evident, that both the earth and the sea appear to be in a state of continual change.

The earth is the common storehouse that supplies continual subsistence to men, animals, and vegetables. But the matter which is thus derived from it is soon restored again, and laid down to be prepared for fresh mutations.

The transmigration of souls, an ancient doctrine, which at this day prevails much in the East, is doubtless false and whimsical; but nothing can be more certain than the transmigration of bodies. The spoils of a savage beast, or of the most contemptible reptile, may go towards the formation of the greatest king; and, on the contrary, as Shakespear observes, particles of the body of Cæsar may be employed in stopping a beer-barrel.

Changes are daily taking place in all animated nature, besides which, the internal fires of the earth, the deviation of its rivers, the falling of its mountains, and the filling up of its vallies, are daily altering its surface; so that modern geography cannot, oftent mes, recognize the rocks, the hills, and vallies which history once described.

But the changes which happen upon the surface of the earth, are generally slow and gradual in their progress. On the contrary, those of the sea are so rapid, violent, and perpetual, that inquietude seems as natural to its waters as fluidity itself is.

As the ocean is continually changing, and labouring internally, it may be presumed that it produces great changes upon those parts of the earth which are most subject to its influence, particularly upon its shores. And this is indeed the fact, for it is perpetually making considerable alterations either by overflowing its shores in one place, or deserting them in another: by covering over whole tracts of country, that were cultivated VOL. IV.

and peopled, at one time, or by leaving its bed to be appropriated to the purposes of vegetation, and to supply a new theatre for human industry at another.

In this struggle betwixt the earth and sea for dominion, the greatest number of our shores seem to desy all the rage of the waves, both by their height, and the rocky materials of which they are composed The coast

of Italy for instance, are bordered with rocks of marble of different kinds, the quarries of which may easily be distinguished at a distance from the sea, and appear like perpendicular columns of the most beautiful kinds of marble, ranged along the shore. In general, the coasts of France, from Brest to Bourdeaux, are composed of rocks; as are those of Spain and England, which defend the land, and only are interrupted here and there to give an egress to rivers, and to grant the conveniences of bays and harbours to our shipping. It may be in general remarked, that wherever the sea is most violent and furious, there the boldest shores, and of the most compact materials, are found to oppose it.~

There are many shores which are several hundred feet in perpendicular height, against which the sea, when swoln with tides or storms rises and beats with inconceivable fury. In the Orkney Isles, where the shores are thus formed it sometimes, in a storm, rises two hundred feet, and dashes up its spray, together with sand, and other substances, upon the land, like showers of rain.

From hence we may conceive how the violence of the sea and the boldness of the shore, may be said to have made each other. Where the sea meets no obstacles, it spreads its waters with a gentle swell, till all its power is destroyed, by wanting depth to aid the notion. But when its progress is checked in the midst, by the prominence of rocks, or the abrupt elevation of the land, it dashes with all the force of its depth against the obstacle, and forms, by its repeated violence, that abruptness of the shore which confines its impetuousity.

Where the sea is extremely deep, or very much vexed by tempests, it is no small obstacle that can confine its rage; and for this reason we see the boldest shores projected against the deepest waters, all less impediments having been long before surmounted and washed away. Perhaps of all the shores in the world, there is not one higher than that on the west of St. Kilda; which, upon admeasurement, has been found to be six hundred fathoms perpendicular above the surface of the water. Here also, the sea is deep, turbulent, and dreadfully agitated with storms; so that it requires great force in the shore to oppose its violence.

In many parts of the world, and particularly upon the coasts of the East Indies, the shores, though not high above water, are generally very deep, and consequently the waves roll against the land with great weight and irregularity. This rising of the waves against the shore, is called by mariners, the surf of the sea; and in shipwrecks is generally fatal to such as attempt to swim on shore. In this case, no dexterity in the swimmer, no float he can use, neither swimming girdle nor cork-jacket will save him; the weight of the superincumbent wave breaks upon him at once, and crushes him with certain ruin. Some few of the natives, however,

have the art of swimming, and of navigating their little boats near those shores, where an European is sure of instant destruction.

In places where the force of the sea is less violent, or its tides less rapid, the shores are generally seen to descend with a more gradual declivity. Over these the waters of the tide steal by almost imperceptible degrees, covering them for a large extent, and leaving them bare on its recess. Upon these shores, as before observed, the sea seldom beats with any great violence, as a large wave has not depth sufficient to float it onwards, so that there are only to be seen gentle surges making calmly towards land, aud lessening as they approach.

As the sea, in the former description, is generally seen to present prospects of tumult and uproa", here it more usually exhibits a scene of repose and tranquility. Its waters when surveyed from the precipice, appear of a mudy greenish hue, arising from their depth and position to the eye; when regarded from a shelving shore, near the colour of the sky, and seem rising to meet it. The deafening noise of the deep sea, is here converted into gentle murmurs; instead of the water's dashing against the face of the rock, it advances and recedes, still going forward with but just force enough to push its weeds and shells, by insensible approaches, to the shore.

Beside these already described, there are still other shores, which either have been raised by art to oppose the approaches of the sea, or from the sea gaining ground are threatened with eminent destruction.

The sea being thus seen to give and take away lands at pleasure, is, without question, one of the most extraordinary considerations in all natural history. In some places it is seen to obtain the superiority by slow and certain approaches; or, to burst in at once, and overwh Im all things in undistinguished destruction; in other places it departs from its shores, and where its waters have been known to flow, it leaves fields which are soon covered with the most beautiful verdure.

The formation of new lands, by the sea continually bringing its sediment to one place, and by the accumulation of its sands in another, is a circumstance easily conceived of. We have had many instances of this in England. That fine flat country in Lincolnshire, called Holland, was produced in this manner: and the sea is receding still along that coast, so that the inhabitants of that part observe continually new and valuable lands added to their former possessions. That tract of country betwixt Lincolnshire and Norfolk, called the Wash, and which for centuries has been overflowed at high water, is gradually rising. The sea does not now cover the extent of it which it formerly did, and even where it continues to overflow, the water is less deep than formerly. Probably, therefore, in a few years, by a little help from human industry, there will be a considerable portion of rich land recovered from the ocean to the use of man, in this part. The Dogger Bank, a well known sand betwixt England and Holland, receives fresh accumulations every day, so that in time the place may probably become habitable earth.

We could mention many other places where the sea has been known to recede and leave considerable portions of habitable land; but a great

part of Holland exhibits the most remarkable instance of this: for this country appears almost universally to have been in former days overflowed by the sea. Buffon says, that the surface of the earth in Holland is below the level of the sea. "I remember (says he) upon approaching the coast, to have looked down upon the country, as into a valley." Some part of our own country exhibits the same appearance. I have seen, when standing upon Dimchurch Wall, in Rumney Marsh, that the sea has, at high water, appeared ten or fifteen feet higher than the land within.

The industry of the Dutch people is incredible; they have embanked their territory at vast expence, and with continual labour and care are forced to keep up their dams in order to prevent the sea from reclaiming its ancient possession.

The large province of Jucatan, a peninsula in the gulph of Mexico, is said to have been formerly a part of the sea; this tract, which stretches out into the ocean an hundred leagues, and is above thirty broad, is every where, at a moderate depth below the surface, composed of shells, which shew that its land once formed the bed of the sea.

Thus numerous are the instances of new lands having been produced from the sea, which is brought about two different ways; first, by the waters raising banks of sand and mud where their sediment is deposited, and, secondly, by their relinquishing the shore intirely, and leaving it to the industry of man.

But as the sea has been thus known to recede from some lands, so has it, by fatal experience, been found to encroach upon others; and probably these depredations on one part of the shore, may account for their departure from another; for the current which rested upon some certain bank, having got an egress in some other place, it no longer presses upon its former bed, but pours all its streams into the newentrance, so that every inundation of the sea may be attended with some correspondent dereliction of another shore.

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However this may be, there are instances of the sea having buried whole provinces in its bosom. Many countries which have been thus destroyed, still bear melancholy witness to the truth of history, which relates their inundation, and the remains of houses, churches, and castles are yet perceived at the bottom of the water.

One of the greatest inundations which have happened in England is that which formed the Godwin Sands, by overflowing the vast estates of Earl Godwin. Those sands are well known to those who navigate the English Channel. They are very dangerous, and have swallowed up many gallant ships.

In the year 1546 an eruption of the sea destroyed an hundred thousand persons in the territory of Dort; and a yet greater number round Dullart. In Friezland and Zealand there were more than three hundred villages overwhelmed, and the ruins continue to be seen at the bottom of the water in a clear day. The Baltic Sea has, by slow degrees, covered a large part of Pomerania, and, among others, destroyed and overwhelmed the famous port of Vinetta. In the same manner the Norwegian Sea has formed several little islands from the main land, and

still daily advances upon the continent. The German Sea has advanced upon the shores of Holland, near Catt, so that the ruins of an ancient citadel of the Romans, which was formerly upon this coast, are now actually under water. And it is a fact well known, that in the bay of Brighthelmstone, in Sussex, and especially at the town of Brighton, the sea is continually encroaching upon the land, and yet the cliff is from twenty to forty or fifty feet in height along that shore. The depredations which the sea commits at this place, are owing to the vast weight of the waves, which, in a strong south-west wind, come in from the Atlantic, and fall with incredible force upon the land. I myself remember a large and massy battery for heavy cannon, being tor, up, overturned, and destroyed, by the prodigious force of the sea, at Brighton.

To those we might add many more instances from our own historians, or those of other countries, all of whom abound in them--but these may suffice.

There are some shores on which the sea has made temporary depredations. It has overflowed a country, and after remaining perhaps some ages, it has again retired of its own accord, or been driven back by the industry of man. The Isle of Ely, in the days of the venerable Bede, about a thousand years ago, was one of the most delightful spots in the whole kingdom. It was not only richly cultivated, and produced all the necessaries of life, but grapes also that afforded excellent wine. The accounts of that time are copious in the description of its fertility; its rich pastures covered with flowers and herbage; its beautiful groves and wholesome air. But the sea, breaking in, overwhelmed the whole country, took possession of the soil, and totally destroyed one of the most most fruitful vallies in the world. Its air, from being dry and healthful, became most unwholesome, and clogged with vapours; and the small part of the country, which, by being higher than the rest, escaped the waters, was soon rendered uninhabitable from the noxious vapours of the neighbouring parts. Thus the whole continued under water for some centuries; til, at last, the sea, by the same caprice which had prompted its invasion, began to abandon the country in like manner. It has now continued, for some ages, to relinquish its former conquests; and although the present inhabitants cannot boast the luxuries of the former, yet they find ample means of subsistence. The country is continually improving in air, soil, and productions; and the fenny parts are yearly retrenched, and brought more into cultivation by the industry of the inhabitants in draining them.

Although history be silent as to many other inundations of the like kind, where the sea has overflowed the country and afterwards retired, yet we have numberless testimonies of another nature that prove it beyond the possibility of doubt; namely, those numerous trees that are found buried at different depths in places where either rivers or the sea have overflown. Buffon says, that, at the mouth of the river Ness, near Bruges, in Flanders, at the depth of fifty feet, are found great quantities of trees, lying as close to each other as their branches will let them. The trunks, the branches, and the leaves are in such perfect preservation,